Singapore Silver Medal

On 15 August 2008, history was made as the Singapore Table-Tennis team achieved second place in the Beijing Olympics. This ended our nation’s 48 year long wait for a medal in the Olympics. Since Tan Howe Liang won the first ever medal, also a silver, for Singapore in the 1960 Olympics, Singaporeans have been eagerly waiting for another medal from the sporting event held only once in every four years. This time, the table tennis team comprising Li Jiawei, Feng Tianwei, Wang Yuegu and Sun Beibei duly delivered as they achieved a silver medal.

I first received news while on the bus home after school. When the TV Mobile service announced that Singapore beat South Korea in the semi finals, a few of the passengers, including me and my friend, clapped. However, despite the good news, I overheard two men talking about how the table tennis players were not from Singapore. I think this is an important issue.
It is true that the team comprised of foreign talents. In fact, all of them originated from China! This is the main cause of concern for the people who are not so satisfied with Singapore’s triumph. They believe that the Singapore’s silver medal does not belong to us due to the roots of our table tennis team. The players are not true blue (or red) Singaporeans. If they had not made the decision to come to Singapore we could have never won the medal. If they had stayed in China, they could have even been on the China’s table tennis team who beat Singapore in the final this year. This “victory” for Singapore does not show the real sporting talent of Singapore. We may have not won it if we had sent Singapore born athletes. If anything, it is showing how good China’s sporting talent is.
However, I believe that the silver medal the table tennis team brought back is truly Singapore’s medal. Even though the table tennis players were born in China and not Singapore, after all they are still Singaporeans. They eat, drink, talk, walk, live, breathe... in Singapore, just like us. They made the decision to come to Singapore and become Singapore citizens. The fact that they want to represent our country shows us where their loyalties lie. We should still be happy and congratulate the team who have put a lot of effort to bring glory to Singapore.

The table tennis team are not the only foreigners breathing the Singapore air. All around us are people who come from other countries to make a living here. It is dumb not to accept their presence here in our country. They are a part of our country and that means they are also a part of us. Hence we should accept them.